Mothers And Sons
by Laminamara
Summary: It's Gohan's wedding day. Chichi and Gohan have a last conversation before the ceremony. One-shot


**Mothers and Sons**

_Disclaimer: I own nothing and no money is made with this._

Son Gohan turned around when he heard the door opening. His mother's face appeared. "Are you ready yet?"

Gohan frowned. "I don't know." He turned back and looked at himself in the mirror. He felt a bit uncomfortable in the black suit and light pink tie he had bought a few days before. Somehow it looked strange on him. "What do you think?"

Chichi came into the room and stood behind her son. "I think you look exactly like your father on his big day."

Gohan laughed. "I think you're mixing something up, Goten is the one looking like Father."

"No, no," she shook her head. He turned to face her. "He was standing there just like you; happy, nervous and ready to jump headlong into a new chapter of his life." She looked up at him for a second, then quickly dropped her gaze to busy herself with his tie. But not before he had seen the tears in her eyes.

He looked onto her black head, astonished. Why was she crying? "What is it, Mum?"

She ignored his question and pulled away, patting his tie. "There, now it looks the way it's supposed to." He didn't reply and eventually she met his eyes. Her tears spilled over and she couldn't hold it in any longer. "You won't need me anymore!" she sobbed. "You're going to be married to a wonderful woman and she's going to take care of you the way I did your whole life. And then all I will be is someone you're going to visit once in a while."

Gohan's heart clenched as he heard his mother's words. He took in the way she stood there, not one grey hair on her head, not a wrinkle on her face, to all the world as young and as youthful as she had always been. But in that moment he saw the strain beneath it all, strain that years of fighting, of death, of having to raise her children alone had put there. She looked so fragile with her narrow shoulders and her tear stained face. This thought triggered words that he otherwise may have never spoken.

"You will never be just someone, Mum." He hesitated for a moment, nervousness welling up in him. "I know I never told you this before, but…," he struggled for words, "I know that Father and I haven't always been…easy, with all the worrying that we have caused you. We may be the strongest fighters in the world, but you are stronger than both of us. You are the one who held this family together, throughout everything." The look on her face at hearing his words gave him the courage to go on. "Sometimes you drove me crazy with your schoolwork obsession, but at other times I just wished to be at home with you instead of having to save the world. In the end, I could have never wished for a better mother." He took a deep breath. This felt like the longest speech he had ever made in his whole life. "So even though I'm going to move out and take care of myself now, you will never be just 'someone' to visit."

This just resulted in more wailing and he already wondered if he had said something wrong when Chichi threw his arms around him. Feeling more than a bit uncomfortable, even though he was used to his mother's sudden emotional outbursts, he patted her back.

After a while her sobs ceased and she sniffed once. Then she pulled away and a little smile grazed her lips. "I can't believe my little boy's all grown up."

Gohan laughed and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed at being called little though he was a head taller than her. "Yeah, well…"

Son Goku chose that moment to enter the room. He was wearing a dark grey suit, a white shirt and a black tie; a sight that was just too rare to not draw attention from many guests. "What are you two doing? Everyone…," he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw his wife's tear streaked face, but Chichi glowed when she said: "We're already on our way." She strode over to Goku and slipped her arm under his. "We wouldn't want to leave our guests waiting, would we?"

She dragged her husband out of the room while his father gave him a befuddled glance.

Son Gohan just shrugged. As always it seemed that his mother's mood had swung from one extreme to the other. He smiled at the thought that maybe his words had comforted her. He was glad that he had finally been able to do something for her.

But when he moved to the door, a sudden nervousness gripped him. The fact that he was on his way to marry came rushing back to him with full force. The conversation with his mother had managed to push it to the back of his mind for a moment.

He thought of Videl, the way she would look at him when he spoke his vows, and a sudden calm came over him. This was what he wanted, more than anything.

Smiling, he stepped out of the room and onto the path to a new part of his life.

_I think Gohan and Chichi's relationship really took a backseat in the series, especially after the Cell Saga, so I wanted to write a little fic that showed that Gohan really appreciated what his mother did for him over the years. I hope you liked it. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought about it._


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